


My happy-ever-after is still vacant.

by Whocares_8



Category: NCT (Band), Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Growing Up, Happy Ending, ILY, Kinda harsh, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Moving On, Multi, Sad with a Happy Ending, School, Soulmates, You'll have to guess Seungmin's mate, a mess cuz i still suck at writing in English, sorry the rest of Skz, up to interpretations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whocares_8/pseuds/Whocares_8
Summary: In a world where soulmates and the system that connects them, the markings, are the main chappiness source of everyone, Kim Seungmin grew agitated because of his.What the heck does that even mean? And why does he feel so sad?
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han & Kim Seungmin, Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin & Everyone, Kim Seungmin & Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/ ?, Kim Seungmin/OC
Kudos: 11





	My happy-ever-after is still vacant.

Since early stages in life, soulmates appeared as a prominent and constant topic.

One that was brought up in school, by smiley, young teachers or old, grumpy ones; in Home, by shining-in-love grandparents, parents, or caretakers; and on the streets, by old, kind ladies or mischievous little children. 

Everywhere you went to, markings and soulmates were the hot topic, the pièce de résistance of chit-chats.

‘What does your marking say?’

‘How do you think you’ll meet them?’

‘Will them be handsome? I’m sure mine will be the most amazing of all!’

Comments and expectations went on and off, non-stop wonder surrounding future and the mystery work of Fate and Destiny.

No one ever seemed to stop and think negatively of it.

‘Soulmates are meant to be!’ As they said.

‘You’d better not question, they’ll be perfect for you!’

Despite all this positive feedback, and the beautiful experience of both his parents and his grandparents, Little Min couldn’t help but feel a pang of something, deep routed on his heart, every time he looked at his marking. Even from the small age of four, whenever he attempted to read it, something unknown would stir inside of him, leaving him uneasy.

_‘You would’ve been perfect’._

He always wondered what that meant, and in which situation that phrase could be used. But even after going through hundreds of conclusions and theories, the uneasiness never went away.

His family, bless them, did their best to change this negative feeling.

They would tell-tale their meeting stories and laugh together reminiscing past jokes. They would bring their neighbours and laugh with their stories too.

Always, always, everything seemed to be perfectly fine. There was nothing concrete to be scared over, your soulmate will be always for you it seemed…

But still, a small fear and something akin to doubt and resent would blossom inside of him whenever he saw someone meet their soulmate.

-

Ten y-o little Min had all those past feelings buried deep on his heart.

All the reassurance of his family and friends had eased nothing, but after receiving countless judgmental observations of young classmates, and noticing how no one ever looked anything near scared when wondering, he had concluded that he was stupid and he should at least not mention it anymore. He mostly didn’t want to worry his caring family with seemingly meaningless worry.

Because of such resolve, he went on Middle School with a strong purpose: he would go on his life, make no close friends, and he would NOT talk about soulmates.

Granted, he didn’t want to be known as the weirdo who didn’t talk about soulmates nor shows his markings. But it’d be better than admitting to everyone else that he was scared. That he sometimes distrusted things being so simple.

People knew that the soulmate system failed sometimes. Some people would be born without a marking but still had a soulmate. Some people seemed to directly not have one and did not care. And some others decided to stay as friends.

However, it was always said you should feel no fear. It was okay, you’d always find your other half and be happy, regardless of if it was as friends or as a couple. Although the first one wasn’t common at all, most people didn’t even believe Seungmin when he said his Godfather was someone who had stayed as friends with his soulmate.

Complimenting his decision, as soon as he turned eleven and started finally dressing himself, he would always wear a long-sleeve, for his marking was situated right above where his arm bent.

-

Middle School didn’t hit too hard. As a studious person, the brunette made sure to dive into learning, leaving aside the classic wonder.

Constantly studying or playing baseball or taking singing lessons, Seungmin spent every day seeking distraction and finding it. He stayed sure to his promise and made no close friends, but never regretted it. He had a few friends or acquaintances, but his school during those years was full of little bastards who liked to make everyone else’s lives a living hell, specially to those who stood out as different.

Unfortunately, or fortunately as he’d sometimes believe, he stood out, in his long-sleeved glory and his scoff at soulmates. However, soon after the bullying began, his parents decided enough was enough and planned their move to the opposite side of the city. Thankfully, the bullying only began on the last months of Middle School. Seungmin often laughed at how dumb they’d acted, as he moved away and poke fun at their faces during graduation.

After that, High School proved to be a whole different breed, and maybe the first step into the right direction. The school students were pretty mild and he didn’t make any close friends the first three years there, either, but he learnt to appreciate soulmates and love.

Becoming friends with a group of silly boys, who liked to call themselves dreamies supposedly because they chased dreams (it truly was because none of them was good at school and often daydreamed at class but don’t tell them you know), showed him the beauty in soulmates.

Sure, he had seen how happy his family members were with their respective partners, but it wasn’t the same as seeing that happiness, that euphoria, in people of his age.

Soon enough, observing their dynamics with their twin souls lit a warm fire of hope and shine in his worried heart.

He still never told them about his marking, as they weren’t the closest friends, just mere classmate-friends. But they, unconsciously, helped changing his thoughts and making him believe in Fate, and that his soulmate was waiting for him to live a happy-ever-after together.

His family was delighted with the change, and soon the tell-tales about soul fusions and stunning scenery starting plaguing family dinners with renovated force.

Absolutely no one could for tell what was going to happen.

As Seungmin would say,

_‘I never knew life could turn over radically in just a few hours.’_

_-_

What would be later known as the Catastrophe of March 19th started pretty mild and average.

Seungmin arrived at school as a chill senior, favourite of the teachers and loved by the students, who already had a university who picked him and his life put together. He held no worries, knowing that years dedicated to studies had payed off and he would not fail any class.

He had greeted his classmates and laughed at their idiocies, before sitting and getting ready for hours of endless classes. The chatter about soulmates just didn’t bothered him anymore and he didn’t spend a second on it, immediately starting to replay the notes of his choir partiture on his head.

Soon enough, the teacher arrived and all of the students started pulling their hair out in frustration over the absurdly complicated chemical symbols, forgetting any previous chatter. Everything was going normal and placid.

However, that changed before anybody could even count to ten.

Seungmin would often go back and remember the pure confusion and slight fear when sounds of explosions, shouts, and what it seemed like bullets started resonating in the halls.

His class was at the end of the hallways, and everyone was petrified at the terrifying screams.

The teacher had run outside, and ‘ _Don’t do anything stupid’_ was the last words they ever heard from him.

Of course, as the afraid but curious and reckless seventeen and eighteen y-o teenagers the whole class where, more than half of them didn’t hesitate to follow their teacher path. The few staying had looked at each other and grabbing chairs or anything that resembled a minimal protection, resorted to go to the halls slowly and cautiously.

The shouts and screams were getting worse, louder, and reached their ears muddled. But they were afraid of staying, for they could not tell what would be worse.

Reaching the big hall and hiding behind broken tables and things they could not identify, they saw the danger in what was described on TV as ‘Vandals, druggies, horrible terrorist with no remorse or care for those poor angelic children’.

Bullets were coming and going from everywhere, bombs would tick off and shrieks would leave throats.

In the midst of the chaos, bodies were piling with increasing speed, in front of the wide-eyed and terrified children. Soldiers soon appeared, and what was before a one-sided attack, converted in a war field.

The sight was described as paralysing as the fight got more extreme, and the few people from Class C were still observing as petrified statues. 

The soldiers, noticing the children, would scream at them to hide but not all would be fast enough.

Quickly, the battle seemed to be won by the soldiers. But a call sounded, distinctive and strong. The soldiers who picked it up showed an indescribable emotion on his face and simply shouted: ‘Bomb!’

In crazy frantic, the few remaining would try to run but the attackers were still going with all their might. Realising the situation, the men took it upon themselves to protect the poor teens who where there, but while trying many were done. The sound of the bomb ticking off was getting to them.

Next to Seungmin, a young-looking man, with kind expression, would run. An older soldier had ordered to protect him, and the man, even while hurting, had take it to himself to do so. Something weird, that the brunette would later decipher, had project him to shout.

‘Please, tell me you’ll be okay!’

The young man’s eyes would widen, and with a tired smile he had spoken to him for the first and last time, before launching himself of top the teen.

‘You would’ve been perfect.’

And the bomb ticked off.

-

A month went by, and the boy finally woke up. Seungmin would desperately cry, knowing that his longed other had passed away without needing confirmation. His heart knew and was screaming its loss. 

The doctors confirmed that, without the soldier, he wouldn’t have survived, and his heart only screamed more.

He was one of the three only survivors. The place he was in and the heroic action of his soulmate had saved his live. The other survivors were a janitor, that had run away at the start, and a boy his age named Jisung, from Class A.

In his despair, he got closer to said boy, and their friendship blossomed through the hardships. They would both abandon the hospital after two months, with promises of recovery and a small hope on their hearts for a better future.

But hope of love didn’t returned on his. All the things he had hoped for were now buried in the tomb of a young male known as “ _Tom_ ”.

-

Luckily for Jisung and Seungmin, despite the mental and physical consequences they suffered, they had been allowed to continue their education. Therapy for five months would happen before it was time for a new start, and the fear was still there, but there was some excitement and hope, gained by hard work and trust on each other. 

Their first year would be tough and scary. They grew closer and closer, each claiming the other to be their platonic soulmate, and they would eventually be able to move without checking thousands of times the halls and the security system, slightly shaking in fear.

Teachers would adore the pair, who shared many classes as they had a similar major, and would work as hard to provide a calm environment that wouldn’t scare them off. Not everyone knew who they were, despite the news, almost only teachers, and they preferred it that way. They just wanted to get rid of the wheelchairs, so they would be able to enter college life at the fullest.

That happened at their second year.

-

Seungmin had stopped dreaming of soulmates. His family, devastated, had at first stopped mentioning anything about them, but feeling the bitterness only grow, he had told them off at the end.

He was sometimes torn in threads because of it, and sometimes he would cry wondering if Fate was truly a thing. Waves of sadness would hit him at random times, and he was drowning on them.

Jisung, on those moments, would do his best. Now established best friends and out of the wheelchair, he desperately wanted both of them to move on. It would be hard, he wasn’t stupid, but he didn’t want both soulmates gone.

He would take him to small hang-outs with people, to small not-too-loud parties, to cafés and parks, and slowly but surely both were healing.

Seungmin began socialising and making more friends, always with his loyal friend, and the university would smile at the delicate boys who just wanted to be happy.

Amidst all the growing out from negative thoughts, Jisung would meet his soulmate.

He was a buff, short boy who the friends would nickname ‘Pizza Boy’ because of his pointy chin, and he would be the welcome door to a group of friends who would grow till eventually be their best friends.

At the start, Seungmin would feel incredibly jealous and sad. The bitterness was still there and he hated that he _‘will never have this’._ But none of them were mad.

As the sweethearts they were, they made sure the boy wouldn’t feel out and started showing him that life was more than soulmates.

It was a long, difficult process. But by the end of their third year, when Pizza boy graduated, Seungmin had accepted that he didn’t have a soulmate and was fine with it. He knew that despite not having a happy-ever-after, he was not alone.

However, as life its life, he discovered that surprises were not over.

On a quiet, autumn day, during one of his favourite and smallest classes, one so small that all six students were friends, a boy would point out.

_‘Yo Seung, I know you hate showing your marking but you should cover it if you don’t want us to see it’_

He would be confused, telling them that he was wearing a long-sleeve and such thing was hidden. However, as they pointed out, a new marking had appeared on his nape.

_‘Hey, can I be your prince?’_

It was traced in smooth italics, and panicking he saw how his previous marking had turned into a remembering red.

He would cry tears of confusion and happiness, laughing in the irony of accepting himself to then find Fate has another trick.

Finally, he was at a point where he wasn’t scared anymore.

-

One day, the whole university was shaking through a debate. Some people wondered about the soulmate system and felt like Fate wasn’t a thing. Maybe it was all a coincidence, and they could meet their soulmates without having to wait.

While hearing everyone’s opinions on the podium, Seungmin stood up when the publics testimony was asked. And worded something that Jisung would always say it made him start _‘The Exclusive Kim Seungmin Fanclub’,_ only for intellectuals.

He was shaking slightly, but something prompted him to speak.

_‘Hello *****’_

_‘Not many know me, but I feel that I’m someone whose experience might help’_

Some people raised their eyebrows, but most where listening with interest on their eyes.

_‘I was born with a particular marking. For some reason I didn’t knew before, from the moment I learnt to read it, every time I did so I felt a shot of sadness… Some angst on my heart. And I’d wonder, ever since, why I felt like that.’_

He took a small breather and smiled at the sight of his best friends.

‘ _I thought there was something weird. And with the years, I felt something was wrong with me. That Fate might’ve made a mistake. Everyone would feel joy with their markings, however I only felt pain.’_

_‘For a while I would blame myself, and think I’m weird, and I would also blame Fate. I believed for a long time that Fate was wrong, because I truly felt pain whenever I read my marking. Which said “You would’ve been perfect”.’_

_‘It doesn’t seem something to be worried about, and with friends we would make thousands of innocent conclusions, but the pain and fear, never went away. However, as time went by, I eventually forgot and got over the feeling and became excited, as most people, at the thoughts of meeting my soulmate, my destinated half… ‘_

The brunette sighed, and Jisung could only dry his own tears.

_‘But I was not prepared for what was going to happen. I never knew life could turn over radically in just a few hours. Most of you don’t know, but together with my friend, here present, I’m one of the only three survivors of the Catastrophe of March 19 th. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my soulmate.’_

_‘My soulmate… He was a soldier. A brave, and young one, not much older than me. In the middle on the attack, I remember I shouted “Please, tell me you’ll be okay!” and back then I had no idea what made me say that. I know now that it was Fate, but I’ll always remember how he said back “you would’ve been perfect” and protected me with his body while the bomb exploded. He’s the reason I’m alive… But even if I had survived, my heart was devastated.’_

_‘I blamed Fate again, I was destroyed, desperate, and every night I wondered why I had to meet him and lose him. It didn’t feel fair, I was angry and sad. I specially remember the resent I felt that I had lost him before I even got to know him.’_

_‘Some days I’d also wonder why some people get to meet their soulmates and I didn’t get to. And it also made me mad. But during this three last years, I’d accepted that was Fate, and I was surely meant to be lonely. And thanks to my friends, I realised that maybe I didn’t have soulmate, but I had them. I’d never be lonely, I knew it, and I gave up on love.’_

Gazing at his fellow students, some of them would portray sadness and some other compassion, which made him smile softly.

_‘However, I had again misjudged Fate. I had thought I had figured out Fate, and I thought Fate was coincidental, but a month ago I was yet again thrown off by life. A new marking appeared on me, delicate italics now mark my neck and my previous marking faded into an intense red recalling someone who could’ve been my forever.’_

‘ _I have realised now that Fate is always determined and that what is meant to be, will happen. And I have no idea what is meant to be and will never be able to guess it, because Fate is unpredictable. I’m still waiting to meet someone who will be my new forever, but I don’t feel scared, nor excited anymore. I just feel I’m on the right track and everything happens for a reason.’_

Between the tears, even Seungmin would remember how everyone clapped for him with tender smiles, while he jumped onto his best friend arms.

Later, as they walk outside of their university, a boy would approach them and say,

_‘Hey, can I be your prince?’_

And after astonished silence, he would answer,

_‘Sure, my happy-ever-after’s still vacant’._


End file.
